Earlier this week, Cronos (NASDAQ: CRON) shares vaulted more than 30% in just a couple of days after it confirmed the existence of talks with tobacco giant Altria Group about a possible alliance. Altria, the world’s largest tobacco company and owner of the Marlboro brand, has been hunting for a deal for a while. This development sparked excitement because it marks the most concrete evidence yet that Altria plans to bring its considerable cash, distribution and agricultural resources into the cannabis sector.

For all the fuss around Cronos, it posted well under $5 million in revenue in the latest quarter. While it’s building facilities to meet Canada’s booming demand for cannabis, Cronos remains a micro-cap, a purely speculative play.

Quintessential Capital Challenges Aphria

Meanwhile, Aphria (NYSE: APHQF), another closely-watched Canadian cannabis company, has been beaten up on after a short seller—a hedge fund that bets on stocks to go down—made negative comments about